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Google Resists U.S. Subpoena of Search Data — SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 19 - The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to compel Google, the Internet search giant, to turn over records on millions of its users' search queries as part of the government's effort to uphold an online pornography law.

How to Foil Search Engine Snoops — On Thursday, The Mercury News reported that the Justice Department has subpoenaed search-engine records in its defense of the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA. Google, whose corporate credo famously includes the admonishment "Don't Be Evil," …

Google sparks privacy fight — BUT YAHOO, MICROSOFT, AOL TURNED OVER RECORDS FEDS SOUGHT — Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online turned over records to the government that Google is refusing to relinquish, raising divisions within the nation's biggest search engines over what information should be private.

The Day After: Points In The Search Trust Sweepstakes — Since Google first started growing in stature, people have wondered if (or when) they might start passing along private information to governments or misusing it for their own gain. The company has faced hyperactive attention in this space …

Comments Turned Off — As of 4:15 p.m. ET today, we have shut off comments on this blog indefinitely. — At its inception, the purpose of this blog was to open a dialogue about this site, the events of the day, the journalism of The Washington Post Company and other related issues.

Who Are the New Media Gatekeepers? — Who decides what's worthy of your attention — a Web 2.0 application, a newspaper columnist, a talk show host, an editorial staff, an influential blogger, a community of thousands, a community of millions? — I've been thinking about this question …

Ning - R.I.P.? — What happened to Ning? — It was the perfect service at the perfect time. — Mashups are hot right now. Really hot. David Berlind oversold his MashUp Camp in a week and now has an impressive waiting list forming. And John Musser's list of mashups continues to grow (see Richard MacManus' post on this too).

Finally, You Can Buy Something Real With Play Money — Virtual money earned playing 'Second Life' can now be used to buy computer hardware. — Tim "FlipperPA Peregrine" Allen — At the online store Second Life Boutique, trees, cigarettes and new body parts are for sale. And that's not the weird part.

PC virus celebrates 20th birthday — Analysis Today, 19 January is the 20th anniversary for the appearance of the first PC virus. Brain, a boot sector virus, was let loose in January 1986. Brain spread via infected floppy disks and was a relatively innocuous nuisance in contrast with modern Trojan, rootkits and other malware.

Angel Funded In A Loo — Po Bronson, a writer, before he found commercial success used to chronicle the geek lives and the social fabric of Silicon Valley. The late night trips through Fry's, soccer games in Marina and The Nudist On The Late Shift. Sadly, his bitter sweet tales are not part of our modern Silicon Valley life.

Screening the Latest Bestseller — Electronic books have traditionally gone straight from the manufacturer to the remainders bin — but the market has never gone away entirely, despite years of tepid sales and failed predictions. — Now a new device from Sony is generating buzz worthy of a Stephen King novel.

Rumor - GSM Version of Motorola Q Cancelled — According to French website Mobinaute, Motorola has confirmed that the Motorola Q has been cancelled in Europe and the only model that will see the light of day is the CDMA version to be released in the US on the Verizon network.

Yahoo 06 — Before reading too much into Yahoo's earnings, you should: — 1) Read the conference call. — 2) Understand why we've been predicting that Yahoo's dominated for a very long time now; because it doesn't have any edge competencies. — 3) Note that one quarter …

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